Modern day electronics include components that use integrated circuits. Integrated circuits are electronic circuits formed using Silicon as a substrate and by adding impurities to form solid-state electronic devices, such as transistors, diodes, and resistors. Commonly known as a “chip”, an integrated circuit is generally encased in hard plastic. The components in modern day electronics generally appear to be rectangular black plastic pellets with connector pins protruding from the plastic encasement.
A digital circuit is an electronic circuit designed to accept digital inputs, perform some computation, and produce a digital output. A digital circuit may be a part of an integrated circuit, or may include more than one integrated circuit.
Electronic circuits consume electrical power for performing their intended tasks. The performance of the circuit depends on the characteristics of the electrical power being supplied to the circuit. For example, the voltage being supplied to the circuit corresponds to the frequency at which the circuit can operate. The frequency of the circuit is also known as “cycles” and is the smallest unit of time in which the circuit divides its operations to perform a given workload.
Typically, and up to a limit for a given electronic circuit, an increase in the frequency results in an increase in the performance of the electrical circuit. In other words, the higher the frequency, the larger the work performed by the electronic circuit, although the increase of performance is not necessarily proportional to the increase in the frequency of operation.
A relationship exists between the voltage applied to the circuit and the frequency at which the circuit can operate. Typically, and up to a limit for a given electronic circuit, an increase in the voltage results in an increase in the frequency of operation of the circuit, resulting in an increase in the performance of the electrical circuit. Again, the voltage, frequency, and performance are not proportionally related to one another, although the relationships are monotonic.
The increase in voltage, for example, is not boundless. Exceeding a maximum voltage can cause errors or faults in the electronic circuit resulting in system failure. Reducing the voltage below a certain threshold can have similar results as well.